Back to 1989 (2016)

The story kicks of without much fuss and the time travel happens within the first 20 min of the first episode. After that the story is engaging and has a good pacing and build up of relations and friendships all the way through. The actors are really good and their characters have a nice depth and dynamic. Around episode 10 the story gets a kick and plots start to speed up making it exciting to watch.

The main couple has really good chemistry. They suit each other well and their scenes are good. The angst in this romance is about them actually not supposed to be together, it was never meant to be. The butterfly effect has consequences. The second couple are also sweet and the romance plot is a tad angsty, I found myself worrying about the future I knew and wishing for a new future for them.

I have not noticed any big inconsistencies with this taking place in 1989. Even though the brands shown are of later date, I don't look at the brand names but rather the fashion style. I remember well all these horrible clothes, old technology and I feel myself being immersed. I am sure that if you really want to you can rip this show to bits finding loads of errors. I'm just not that kind of viewer. So far it feels like the 1989 that I remember.

All in all a well done drama, with the usual Taiwanese issues (low audio quality and at least one clown character). The extremely cheesy moments didn't bother me at all, I enjoyed them, squealed and cried my way through this very sweet story.

Read More

I'm going to start off by saying that I don't usually watched dramas while they're airing, but I did with Back to 1989, so I feel as though I might be more bias in my review since I've watched the characters grow each week, which is much different from marathoning and seeing their growth in a few days.

I really fell attached with BT1989 and everything about it. There was a great blend of everything: family, first love, regrets, difficulties.. it was definitely my cup of tea. In my few years of drama watching, I've never heard of a plot like this drama. It's interesting, captivating, though quite confusing the more you think about it. It was so interesting to see how everything played out, and the writers definitely didn't let us down. However, TRIGGER WARNING for anyone uncomfortable with sexual assault. I did feel as though it got draggy near the end with the romance, but it was still an enjoyable watch. Many plot twists occurred that I didn't expect, and it had me on the edge of my seats with the different camera angles and shots. All the characters, as I've mentioned, I've become so attached with. While some were annoying at times, they each bring something important to the story. They made me laugh, cry, and shake my head in disbelief of how insane they were. We got your innocent and clumsy female lead and your smart and cool handsome male lead along with an adorable second couple and the awkward side characters that bring humour to any awkward situation, making it more awkward.

Some people really stood out with their acting, especially our second lead couple, which includes our second female lead Mini Tsai, and our second male lead Yorke Sun, both of whom I now adore their acting. It was nice seeing Ivy Shao play a different character from her cunning one in When I See You Again. However, I had mixed feelings on the main lead, Marcus Chang, though it was his first main role, so I still give him some credit. His crying made me laugh more than feel pity, but i could definitely see his improvement as the episodes progressed. Still not the best crier though, haha.

Besides the main theme song (you'll understand...), i loved the OST! I don't listen to them on a regular basis, but they suited the drama so well. They actually had hit songs from 1989, which was perfect for making it seem more realistic, along with a variety of songs that really scream Back to 1989. Besides Alien Huang, the rest were by more underrated or newer artists, so I was definitely intrigued. Now that I've finished the drama, I suddenly realize how amazing the soundtrack really is.

Overall, it has its flaws; it has a confusing conclusion with many issues still not explained, along with some draggy parts, but i loved this drama. It's what I looked forward to every Friday, and it was well produced, and it brought the feeling back of why i love Asian dramas. I'm so glad I found this, and I hope i persuaded some of you to watch it.

Read More

I don't know how to say it but it took me until I watched half of the drama to become really interested. However, I think it was because I followed the previews and waited until it was nearly done airing before watching it. And thus, I recommend you to not watch/see/hear about ANY spoilers. That way, I think you'll be much more interested in this drama since the plot is pretty unpredictable.

That said, there are dramas that are still like crack even when I know what happens. So there is something that is missing, a spark, an attraction in this drama for me. Set in 1989, I liked the retro vibe; the production did a good job at making sure everything was authentic-from the bb caller things to the attire. The drama also explored some delicate issues and in my opinion, it was done very well. This is my first time traveling drama and yeah, it's surprisingly kind of believably done, not extremely far-fetched.

Most of the actors are pretty new or have only been in a few dramas. Marcus Chang is cute but his acting is fresh. It makes it hard for me to become extremely invested in his character's dilemma when I feel like he is trying really hard to show his anguish. And frankly, Ivy Shao's character, Zhen Zhen got on my nerves quite a lot. She is very, very naive but at least through it all she has a lot of heart. Her character did contrast well with Chen Che so it was cutely done, just not the most innovative one out there in dramaland. There are quite a bit 'Romeo and Juliet' love line aspects so I guess that was another one of the reasons I didn't just love this show.

Negatives aside, I did like the family love shown throughout this drama more than anything. It was raw, shown especially well through the hardships the families had to face together. The drama also demonstrates that the simplest choices can result in something drastically different, which forces us- as viewers- to really think about the choices we make in our own lives and if we're making the correct choices-for both ourselves and our loved ones.

OST is nice, catchy, but not my favorite.

I don't think I would re-watch. It was a decent one-time watch but ultimately, I didn't fall in love with it. Would I recommend it though? Yeah, sure if
-you like retro vibes (the clothing, the music, the atmosphere)
-you like 'forbidden'/denial from family love lines

(7.5, 8.5)

Read More

Pleasant drama, not memorable, but nice, to watch especially for Marcus Chang.

A TIME TRAVEL series, with Marcus Chang, where the plot's originality lies in the fact that the ML is sent 1 year before his birth. He was raised by his lonely and visibly unhappy single mother, who always refused to tell him about his father. He will seize this opportunity to find out who his father is and his mother's life before his birth.

Interesting plot, with a very good reconstruction of the period (costumes, sets, accessories). However, the storyline is a bit "off the rails" with a weird time travel process.

2nd part with some lengths , but no clichés or too much expected twists. Happy end a bit hasty and "far-fetched".

Very good actors (all of them), dynamic production and good OST.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME TRAVEL avec Marcus Chang, où l'originalité du plot réside dans le fait que le ML est projeté 1 an avant sa naissance. Il a té élevé par sa mère, seule et visiblement malheureuse, qui a toujours refusé de lui parler de son père. Il va saisir cette opportunité pour découvrir qui est son père et le vécu de sa mère.
Plot intéressant, avec une très bonne reconstitution de l'époque (costumes, décors, accessoires). Cependant, la storyline est un peu "perchée" avec un processus de voyage dans le temps bizarre.
2nde partie avec qq lenteurs, mais pas de clichés ou de twist trop attendu. Happy end un peu hâtive et "tirée par les cheveux".

Très bons acteurs, réalisation dynamique et bons OST.

Drama agréable, pas mémorable, à voir surtout pour Marcus Chang.

Read More

I really recommend the series because the actors are made for each other and at the same time they were really together, you really see that the real one is real and the story is also very different from other stories. and it is so sad. I cried like a baby when I watched the show. There were also moments when I was so sad that I turned off my phone and cried. It’s sad but also so sweet and beautiful and just watch it. Trust me! I’m a person I don’t watch every series so I’m really picky but as I watched this drama I watched it and i loved it. I was really surprised and I was really sad when I watched the drama ready. And from that day I never found a drama I liked like this Drama.

Read More

⏱ Analog Daze ⏲ °7.1° °good+°

〰 “How is this old thing still running?” 〰 “What do you mean, it's brand new.” 〰 “Where's your helmet?” 〰 “Nobody wears them!” 〰 “Can I use your cell phone?” 〰 “If you want to make a call, go to the closest phone booth.” 〰 It's 1989. Regular folks don't have cell phones yet. “Let me pay for that with a credit card.” 〰 “Didn't Visa just launch in Taiwan? How do you have that?”

B289 is a 2016 release that is rated 8.1 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 34 or 21 episodes, depending on how they cut them. The overall length is in the neighborhood of 26 hrs. The setup is scant. Our ML, Che, is successful and in between jobs. He's being recruited, so money isn't his concern. What he really wants to find out who his dad is. He visits his failing grandfather in the hospital, who is mumbling pieces of the puzzle in his delirium, but his mom won't talk about it. WON'T. He has a heated argument with her, hops on his motorcycle and rides away, after declaring “I don't have a mother!” She's been nothing but miserable his whole life, anyway😤. Inside of a tunnel he has an accident. When he wakes up, everything looks different. You just have to accept it. He's gone back in time. It's 1989, and he's about to be conceived.

When he lands on 1989 asphalt, our FL lands on him with her moped. This leads to the conversation above. Che doesn't have much cash, and his credit cards won't work, so now, money's a problem. He needs to get a job. Nothing's more perfect for the savvy time traveler than the stock market! Looks like it's time to invest in tech.

The acting is a mixed bag. Most is wooden and stiff; some of it is pretty good. The characters are still more likable and relatable than not. Marcus Chang (Lost Romance, Mysterious Lotus Casebook) plays Chen “Che”. He's a very nice lookin guy, and an overall excellent romantic male lead. Ivy Shao (Hello Ghost!, More than Blue: The Series) portrays Ye Zhen “Zhen”. She's girl-next-door cute. “Are you so gullible?” 〰 “I am! How did you know?” 😆 Che agreed to help her with the moped repairs, but she doesn't even have his pager#! With no valid id, credit history, and a resume that appears faked, Che ends up at Zhen's house, renting a room from her parents. Zhen is his mother's BFF, so being around Zhen is perfect for surveillance. “So this is what it's like to have a father in the house,” he realizes.

Mini Tsai (W Series: The Way You Shine, Young Days No Fears) Is Chen Ya Juan, Che's mother. Yorke Sun (Piggy's Counterattack, Home Sweet Home) is the boyfriend that her b!+ch mother doesn't approve of, Li Jin Qin. Chang Chieh (Love, Timeless, To My Dear Granny) as Wang Zhong En, competes for Ya Juan's affection. Ray Yang (The Nipple Talk, Let It Fly) rounds out Zhen's love triangle as the too exuberant Lin Xiao Long. The director is Ker Choon Hooi of Falling Into You, and the screenwriter is Joyce Liu who wrote the amazing Age of Rebellion-9.5.

As the attraction between Che and Zhen builds, she can't understand why he insists that he doesn't like her. Finally, he has to admit the truth to her. This sets up her struggles to figure out a way that they can be together and /stay/ together. All this while he's trying to protect his mother and ensure that she doesn't end up living the miserable life that he remembers her living. As for the romance… this hurts... I really hate to say this... I like the leads;, but they don't completely sell the romance. And he's one fantastic male lead. The love story takes a backseat to the rest of the drama going on.

As with many time-travel stories, the theme is regrets. People don't want to travel back in time to NOT show love. One doesn't /need/ to time travel if one shows love, consideration, caring, forgiveness, and generosity from the start.

“If he were my father, I'd rather not be born.” Our male lead keeps an eye on his future mother who is living as a 20-something girl. She's pretty, sweet, and hopeful. She's nothing like the spiky, cold, and distant emotional icicle that raised him. Toxic women tend to drive the plot of many TwDramas. In this one, Che's grandmother is just awful. She's likely the reason his mother grew up to be so miserable. Ya Juan's mother is overbearing, even for an Asian mother. She tries to dominate every aspect of her life including Ya Juan's friends, whom mom shoos away. At one point, she extracts a silly vow. I hate it. Mom's setting Ya Juan up on blind dates. Our two leads decide to follow along to see if she needs any bailing out. Che's just hoping to get a look at his father. He's never met him, and he doesn't know who he is, so he's watching the situation very closely. The truth ends up being a difficult pill. Another theme is realizing we don't understand everything about our parents and we should try to give them the benefit of the doubt when we can.

There's some fun stuff in the show. His plaid jackets are stunning. Most of the wardrobe is hideous. Every time I reacted strongly I had to remind myself about Wild Wear and what everybody else was wearing in the '80s. Still, some of the clothes hurt my eyes. The music is WAY above average. I Shazamed songs by Alien Huang, Nine Chen, and Gary Chaw. The opening credits song is great. Zhen falls on the way to a party and they do the rip-the-bottom-half-of-the-dress-off thing. She goes from frumpy to adorable. They discuss the barbarism of shark fin soup, which is a relief to me. Many Chinese features mention it favorably, which hurts, because it's cruel.

Apart from the average acting, it could be better. Some Taiwanese / Chinese shows try to get away with feeble writing. At one point there's a mini drama because Zhen screws up a stock order by spending 40K on the wrong stock. The narrative is that she owes the client $40,000. The money is still there, she just brought the wrong stock. Even if it went down in value, the value wasn't erased. Stuff like that drives me nuts. Other people don't care. We all have a different threshold. Our ML’s grandfather happens to be a physicist and this is his realm of study so as the story unfolds we meet him. (He's on a business trip until episode 13). They never give an adequate explanation from a scientific sense, but they provide a reason for the timeslip from an astral sense. By ep23 things seem like a right mess. And all-the-while, we are hurling towards that fateful day when Che will be born.

This probably would have been better at 25 to 30 episodes. They resorted to filler in the late 20s and early 30s. Just when I was getting very discouraged, eps33 & 34 make a full recovery. There's a nice twist and things are wrapped up very satisfactorily.

Overall, the show is plain cute. It will pass the… time. The final episode involves Che looking at a photo album and his mother (who exudes warmth and peace) recalls his life. Not everything was exactly the same as he remembered it. There's much less to regret.

QUOTES📢

Being in love is like catching a cold. By the time you're aware of it, it's already serious.

Q - Why doesn't he ever take the next step? A - Everyone has their secret. Maybe he has reservations that he doesn't want us to

My future happiness is my responsibility.

From another perspective, all the barriers to love are there to prove that love exists.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7 📝7.2 🎭6.8 💓6 🦋5.5 🎨5 🎵/🔊8.3 🔚8.5 🤗4 ▪ 🌞5 ⚡3.7 😅3 😭4 😱2 😯4.5 🤢1 🤔4 💤2


Age 13+ there is a sexual assault and other adult themes. Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned


Re-📺? Doubtful


🇹🇼Taiwan
Age of Rebellion-9.5
Autumn's Concerto-7.2
Back to 1989-7.1
Black & White-6.8
The Fierce Wife-8 - worth sticking with
Inborn Pair-4.2
Love, Now-3.6
Love You-7
Office Girls-7
Two Fathers-7.5

In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

🌐💓 -
C🇨🇳:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Wait, My Youth-8.4


K🇰🇷 :
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;

🎎 -
C🇨🇳: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
K🇰🇷:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10

⚡/😱/🚀 -
C🇨🇳: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
K🇰🇷:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4

Japanese🇯🇵 lite romcoms: Maid Sama-10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4, Toradora-8.5

Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
Boss & Me-7
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8

Read More

8/10 Crazy FANTASTIC STORY regarding the BUTTERFLY EFFECT . So tempted to up this to a 9/10 for the ending alone. But I won't. ;)

WHAT I LIKED
You really need to pay attention in order to follow the relationship twisties.
- GREAT DRAMA to eat up some of your valuable time with because you have to think while you watch lol.
- OST-Gary Chaw: During the course of this drama I discovered a fantastic music artist! LOVE LOVE LOVE! Tubed and download an unbelievable video from this guy that gave me goosebumps and that was so INTENSE.
in fact all his Mvids seem to message with intensity about life. Great Poet. LOVE!
If you care to check him out just cut and paste:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCyOYqHXrQ
- AWSOME ENDING.
-It's a rewatch because I KNOW will have to. Even though I scored it so high.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
-mmmmm...PACE. Sometimes I felt I wanted to PUSH the story forward by force. and it made my FF finger twitchy in some places..THEN I'd have to rewind because I needed the info to continue understanding the story properly. That finger still twitched though! lol.
_________________________________
Finally: JUST KNOW THAT THIS DRAMA was WORTH what my IT was and this may be the case for you as well! :)

Read More

I will be short with the review :

First of this drama is very good even with few flaws. We shoud have a low bar when viewing an Taiwanese drama unlike Kdrama.

What i like about this drama is mainly its short number of episodes being 21 unlike 35+ episodes of useless dragging in T dramas. This show is all about mystery about the Main lead's father and the relationship b/n his mother along with some romance b/n 2 couples.

After watching this drama you will get answered abt the estranged rlxn between mother and son, mystery about his father. What we want is how they answered this qstns? also is there a happy ending?

Yes, the the questions are answered to its satisfactory in a good way. The time travel concept in this drama is less logical and more magical. But it was shown in a good way as the time travel isn't the main theme here but the mystery and reconccilation. The cultural differeces b/n two time periods are shown in a good way. Also there are few flaws with the time travel concept which can be neglected. And the Romance b/n main couple can be a little weird in last two episodes.Also they (in drama) seem to be thinking that only robbery can occur to women for few episodes. I mean its a Woman, how hard can it be to guess what happened when you look at her ??

Anyway this drama is very good for a taiwanese drama worth of 8.5 / 10.

Read More

I found my way to this show by flipping through Netflix desperate for something to watch.  

I committed myself to watch all of the episodes (Netflix has this for 34).  It seemed a bit long to me but I wanted to hang in there.   I wanted to play detective and find out who his father and what happened to Chen Che's mom just as bad as he did.

I am sorry to say that I failed in my quest.  At about episode 20, I gave up.  I couldn't pull myself to continue to watch this show.  So I cheated and watched the last episode.  It really didn't reveal much.  The mom looks happier and she got her happy ending with her first love.  Chen Che at first I though his love died but only to see at the end she miraculously appears in 2016.  Part of me wanted to know what the hell?  I thought because it was time travel there would be no way they would end up together.  

Their relationship seemed a bit weird to me because that was his mom's best friend and practically god mother type relationship.  Never mind the twenty year difference in age.  I wasn't really buying this relationship and although at times I do like happy endings this was one of those times that I wanted to see them fail.  Horrible of me right?  I guess I wasn't in a happily ever after mood at that point.

Anyway....being that I went straight to the end without watching in between...I still do not know who his father is (although I have a guess).  By reading some of the earlier reviews I think I have an idea of how she got pregnant but not 100%.  Although I want to know....I have no motivation to go back and watch the episodes I skipped.

Acting wise....they were ok.  Nothing to write home about.  I wasn't really invested in any of the characters.  Chen Che was ok but way too stiff for my likening.  The Guitar 5 (or whatever they called themselves) was not a group that I think I would like to hang out with.

Music:  I liked the intro song...it was nice and sounded like an oldie but goodie.
 
Not worth watching the first time let alone a 2nd.  Just my opinion.

So I guess the fat lady has sung for this drama for me.

Read More

Rather boring with some sweet moments

I was intrigued by the storyline and wondered, while watching, how they will manage to give everyone a happy ending. Well, everyone got a happy ending, but there was no logic behind that whatsoever. It felt like they didn't know themselves how to manage that and then just threw the ending in, in the last 5 minutes, completely out of the blue with no explanation at all. That was cheap and disappointing.

The story and the characters had their sweet moments. But overall, it was - I read it in a different review and agree - dull. I watched the series on Netflix, where it has 34 episodes, and the first 20 episodes were boring. Nothing exciting happens at all. They could have explored the time travelling aspect more, with the main character trying to figure out what happened together with his grandfather. But they missed that chance completely.
The acting of the main cast was below standard. Only Mini Tsai, the main character’s mother, did a really good job and was very convincing. The two leads’ acting was either over the top or too stiff and felt very artificial. I’ve seen Ivy Shao in The Perfect Match first and I loved that show, and liked Ivy Shao very much. But in this show I could see her trying to act. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two of them at all.

The show was good enough to keep me going till the end. Though it took me longer than normal and every now and then I had to force myself to keep going.

Read More

*Spoiler alert* characters painfully ignorant!

Watching this with my mom right now.... and seriously would not finish this if it were not for her wanting to keep watching. Can not stand the ditzy female lead (Ye Zhen Zhen) and her obsessive/crazy behavior with the male lead (Chen Che) even though he rejects her multiple times.

Also, Chen Che has the goal of hopefully making his mother’s (ya Juan) life happier in the future by keeping watch over her when he goes back to 1989, but seriously the chain of events that lead to the “incident” could have easily been prevented. The writers should have done a better job of making a more believable build up. Also Chen Che is supposed to be super smart, yet it takes him a painfully long time to figure out what happened on Xmas day and how he was conceived.... Probably cuz they try to awkwardly alternate in between Ye Zhen Zhen/Chen Che love story while the mom (ya Juan) is going through her crisis. Honestly can’t wait until I’m done with this drama.

Back to 1989 makes me very weary to start any other Taiwanese dramas, since it is one is one of the most highly rated ones on MDL :(

Read More

one word: love. I love love love this drama! anything that's set in the 80s is definitely my cup of tea.

this story has everything a drama needs: romance, angst, good chemistry between the actors and nice music. when watching this drama, I didn't feel like the story progressed too quickly or too slowly, the timing was perfect. 21 episodes was also just enough episodes, I feel like 1 more episode would've made the pace of the story too slow. the acting was also really good and the main couple definitely had chemistry.

the only thing I kind of disliked was the open ending. I would've preferred it more if they had given us some closure, but I'll just assume it's a happy ending! plus, aesthetically, there was this weird oversaturized filter over the scenes set in the 80s that took a while to get used to. other than that, amazing drama that I would like to rewatch sometime soon!

Read More